MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used two agents who once lived in Australia to direct arson attacks against Jewish targets in Sydney and Melbourne, the head of Australia’s domestic spy agency said on Wednesday.
“Iran continues to view Australia as a legitimate target for covertly directed acts of violence,” Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), said.
Australia last year blamed Iran for fires that damaged Lewis’ Continental Kitchen, a kosher eatery in Sydney, and Melbourne’s Adass Israel Synagogue two months apart in 2024.
A major diplomatic rift led to Iran’s ambassador being expelled. Tehran denies the allegations.
Burgess, presenting his annual update on national security threats, said that an Australian citizen based in Iran directed the Sydney firebombing, while a former Australian resident living in Iraq had directed the Melbourne attack.
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He did not name the suspects to protect ongoing investigations and criminal prosecutions.
FILE: A handout photo taken on July 12, 2024, shows Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) Mike Burgess (L) speaking next to the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police Reece Kershaw during a press conference in Canberra. (Handout / AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE / AFP)
The Australian citizen was a senior IRGC agent running its networks around the world, Burgess said.
Iran had recruited the man through a “complex web of Iraqi-based militia groups,” Burgess said, adding that the IRGC had valued his criminal connections and supported his continuing crimes.
“That changed dramatically after ASIO publicly named Iran’s involvement in the arsons,” Burgess said.
“This person’s Iranian backers lost their enthusiasm and after further pressure from Australian and local law enforcement, they threw him in prison,” he added.
Burgess described the investigation into the Sydney and Melbourne attacks as “one of the most difficult and detailed in recent ASIO history.”
This handout photo taken and released by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet on December 10, 2024, shows Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (2nd R) and Rabbi Shlomo Kohn (R) visiting the Adass Israel Synagogue in Melbourne on December 10, 2024, after it was set ablaze on December 6. (Handout / DEPARTMENT OF PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET / AFP)
He had previously said that the Revolutionary Guard was suspected as being behind other antisemitic crimes in Australia since the start of Israel’s war against Hamas in 2023.
Several people are facing charges in connection with the arson attacks. It remains unclear whether they were aware who they were working for.
The Australian government has established a public inquiry to investigate a rise in antisemitism across the country, including the killing of 15 people when two gunmen opened fire on a Sydney Hanukkah celebration in December at Bondi Beach.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
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